My new light bulb

I wasn’t opposed to Bush’s light bulb ban. In fact the thought of saving energy to alleviate some the demand on dirty power appealed to me. My main contention was not the price but the quality of the light. I live in a log home with pine ceilings and the CFL’s turn the warm rustic look of the wood- green. The affect was so ghastly I considered joining the ranks of the light bulb hoarders. After all, the local hardware store started stocking and selling incandescent bulbs by the case and they were flying of the shelves.

The one offending CFL I tried ended up in the utility room. It must have sensed my displeasure because it burned out in less than a year. So much for “long life”.

For some reason conventional bulbs in our house last about 4 months. It’s annoying to flip a switch and get nothing but a brief flash followed by another trip to the pantry and one to the trash. I’ve had enough of this mundane maintenance routine.

Enter the 9.5w (60w) “warm white” LED by Cree. For just $10 it was worth a try and I couldn’t really go wrong with a 10 year warrantee. And if I didn’t like it- it could go in the utility room. While it’s not as bright as the 100W bulb it replaced, it is “almost” close enough. The same can be said about the color and unlike the CFL, I can live with it. I like it well enough to try their 13.3w “TW” series which are twice the price but they claim they’re brighter and have even truer color.

But if you’re like me you need more light to read by. I use a table lamp next to the sofa but I think a 2-bulb adapter might be the solution.

Cost savings are pretty straight forward . Since we go through 3 conventional bulbs per year per lamp at .85 cents per bulb, in 10 years time we will have spent $25- versus one $10 LED. It’s is a no-brainer. And that doesn’t take into account inflation or energy savings. Or the benefit of not having to constantly change the damn things.